Community poll forum: What gets under your skin about public cell phone usage?

I agree with Tippy ...only for emergencies in public.All of the answers apply plus ...in the grocery store, in line at the theater,in the restaurant. they are rude rude rude.

I'm a staff photographer for a major florida newspaper. Now, I get about 30 phone calls everyday. I also have a police scanner in my car. Now, I think it's funny when people say, "You idiots who think you know how to drive and talk," that's pretty funny! Now I do agree that casual usage on cell phones while driving is pushing the limit. But when I get a call about a structure fire or a 10-car pileup I'm going to take the call. I've been doing this eleven years;

I HAVE NEVER RECIEVED A TRAFFIC TICKET OR BEEN IN A CRASH!

People just have to remember this while driving and talking on their cell phone, The road comes FIRST, the phone comes LAST.

Distractions when driving often cause an accident. That can include many things. If you must talk on the cell phone pull to the side of the road. That's the only safe way to talk on a cell phone while driving.

not everyone is as aware of their capabilities as you are. Some people believe they are invincible, that they are in control, in charge, and can multitask at 70 mph without a problem.
If an accident happens, then it's always, always, the other guy's fault, never theirs. But the link between walk/talk/chew gum and driving/talking/phoning is specious and thin at best.
Few people walk in heavy traffic on freeways, chewing gum. Few people walk at 60 or 70 mph. But many people fail to realize that anything, ANYTHING, that distracts the driver from his main job of driving, can kill him, or someone else.

There are plenty of competent drivers out there who simply should not use a cell phone. It has nothing to do with driving ability, it has to do with paying attention to the road. Here's a silly analogy that you might want to consider, IronMan; how would you feel if you looked up from the operating table and saw that your surgeon had a cell phone? "I can multitask" he says, cheerfully, as you drift off...

You are so full of crap your eyes are turning brown. The cognitive skills used while talking on a cell phone are far greater than having a conversation with someone in the car with you. The first thing a self-serving jerk always does when making an argument is claim to cite some B/S ''study'' to try to prove his point. Its the adolescent equivalent of ''my daddy can whip your daddy.'' Anybody that has observed the poor & inconsiderate driving of the vast majority of people when talking on a cel phone intuitively knows that you are full of crap. They may not want to admit it, but they know it nevertheless.

First, most modern cel phones use a very limited frquency band (so the cellular companies can get more users in the same allocated bandwidth) and the resultant transmission quality is far lower than earlier digital phones. This causes the user to focus more attentively than he would in a normal conversation with someone in the car using a good deal more cognitive skills than a normal conversation would require.

Second, the motor skills used to hold a cel phone in one's hand while talking are co-opted by the cognitive part of the brain which is why people often gesture with their cel phone in their hand when involved in an emotional or otherwise stressful cel phone conversation.

Third, there are just plain immature and inconsederate people (of which Gen Y seems to have a corner on.) I can't tell you how many people, mostly women but some men to be sure, that I see every day driving 10~20 MPH below the speed limit on a major thoroughfare or freeway while talking on their cel phone because they are distracted. Then just watch a them try to park their car while carrying on a cel phone conversation. Just about every day I observe one or more people in our company parking lot returning from lunch taking two or three attempts to park their car because they won't put their phone down long enough to focus on parking. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. NOTHING, NOTHING is so important that you simply MUST talk on a cel phone while driving.

Cars kill people. Cars kill more people than all kinds of weapons combined. When you consider the fact that weapons are DESIGNED to kill but cars are not, it is plainly obvious that the most dangerous thing any of us do in our daily lives is get in a car. If you weren't so young, foolish & immature you would know this.

Finally, it is just plain immature to expect the law to make special exception just for you because you think you are such a great driver and you are so selfish and immature that you only think of your convenience and not the safety of others on the road, let alone your own.

Using hand-held cel phones while operating a moving vehicle should be banned and violators should be punished by a one-year suspension of their driver's license. No exceptions.

I'm just waiting for someone to hit me while they are talking on their cel phone 'cause I am going to clean their financial clock.

Sorry, but you are just plain wrong. Forget blatant smash-ups.
* Waiting at a green light behind someone lost in the call.
* Jamming on the brakes because a pre-occupied driver changed lanes without looking.
* Quick moves as a pre-occupied driver realizes they are at their exit.
Aside from my personal experiences, there are so many studies that say you are wrong. Accept the fact that driving is not a task that requires minimal attention.
Fact - You cannot look at the phone and look at the road.
Fact - You cannot hold your phone and signal for a turn.
Whether it is the phone, putting on makeup, or glancing down at the sports page, attention to the road suffers. That is fine if I am not on the road that day, but it sucks when I have to think for the both of us.

there is a certain arrogance that goes with believing that "I am a superior driver" simply because one has never had an accident or a ticket.
I have seen some horrendous drivers who have never had a ticket either, or an accident, but they surely do cause a lot of grief and anger on the road. And if you ask them, they will insist they are good drivers.

My mother, at 90, was still driving. she would boast of her excellent reflexes and how if she hadnt been paying attention that other car would have plowed right into her...I refrained from telling her if she HAD been paying attention she would have seen it coming a mile down the road. *g*

anything that takes your attention off the road, for even a few seconds, has the potential for disaster.
And as we get older our attention span changes, and our focus shifts. Few people will admit it; "I have the reflexes of a teenager" someone will say, much like the drunk who has no idea just how drunk he really is...cell phones are just one more distraction.

and it isn't the accidents you don't have. What about the near misses? what about what happens that you don't see, that you may have been indirectly responsible for?

I appreciate your perspective on the drive - talk issue. I do see the police using their C phones daily as well. I realize that there are those of you that are truly proficient in multi-tasking.I think we're focusing on the other 99%of the people who only think they can. Like a gal I saw the other day who drove thru a stoplight red)I was sitting at, with a cigarette in her left hand, a cup of coffee in her right hand and had her neck cradling a cell phone to her shoulder! And lets be honest here, I think perhaps you are bluring the lines somewhat when you say you have never had a ticket, or accident in the past eleven years. That should more likely read, you have been lucky enough to not have been caught being inattentive behind the wheel over the course of your profession. anyway, nuff said.

The cell phone companies have a very strong lobby. That is why it is NOT against the law to drive while being distracted on a cell phone. It is proven to be dangerous, but generous campaaign contributions to politicians have kept the law from passing. People that drive and use a cell phone are as dangerous as a drunk driver.

Are you on your phone now?

it is all of the above, when I ride public transportation and people are yakking away loudly on the phone! and when the bus drivers are talking while driving they should know better!

It's as if consideration for others has disappeared, and the cell phone takes precedent over everything else. People seem to feel the need to be connected to the rest of the world constantly, at the expense of the people right in front of them.

If you have ever had a convo with someone using a cellphone, you know half the convo will be about 'I'm walking in the store now, wow is it hot outside, I dont think I'll ever get through this, it's a mad house, maybe I'll just go next door and see what's on sale..."
and I think, how boring IS this...?

I was literally driven out of a bookstore because the clerk was walking up and down the aisles shouting to her boyfriend on a cell phone.
People are asked to turn off their phones in a theater or a lecture hall, no one moves. five minutes later three phones ring.
I dont know what ever happened "I'll call you back, I can't talk right now".

my friend has a ring tone on hers that sounds like birds chirping. When I tell her that's her phone she says, not it's not, that's birds chirping. Sigh.

I am privy to every conversation out there, when I'm in a supemarket, or a bookstore, or a restaurant. And these same people complain about 'lack of privacy", often after screeching out the details of their last operation to a captive if not captivated audience...

And I worry about kids who have developed the cellphone habit; when are they ever alone? When do they ever disconnect with everyone but themselves? When do they dream?

I was walking out to my mailbox one day, and noticed a car coming toward my direction, driving erratically. Luckily, I didn't have to cross the road to get to my mailbox. I decided to back off, and not step out into the shoulder of the road. When the car got close enough, I could see that the driver was talking on a cell phone. I made the right decision of waiting until the driver went by, because 'He' ran off the road and into the ditch, not more than 20 feet beyond the spot where I would have been standing. I might have been hit!
I take my cell phone with me when I travel, and will not use it if I am behind the wheel. If I have to, I'll pull of somewhere to call or carry on a conversation.

I pulled up at a stop light one morning on my way to work. A big black SUV pulled up next to me on the left. The woman driving had a cup of coffee in her left hand, her cell phone in her right hand, and a cigarette hanging from her mouth. And she was checking her makeup in the rear-view mirror! Now that's multi-tasking! Needless to say, I got away from her ASAP!!!